Kwoyelo trial too slow, Acholi leaders cry out

A section of leaders have expressed mixed reactions over the trial of Thomas Kwoyelo with majority asking government to pardon the former warlord while others tasked court to ensure justice prevails.
While concluding their outreach activities with a public hearing session at Gulu District Council Hall on Friday, various stakeholders in the meeting who included cultural, political and religious leaders, however, never had kind words for the ICD team.
The leaders criticised the ICD for its alleged sloppiness and failure to expedite the trial of Kwoyelo, who has been in custody at Luzira Maximum Security Prison since 2009.

Shortage of funds
The Rtd Bishop of northern Uganda Diocese, Rev Nelson Onono Onweng, said the establishment of ICD by government without properly funding its activities to expedite trials was wrong.
Bishop Onweng said the ICD is poorly facilitated and it is trying to borrow most of its judicial mandates from the International Criminal Court (ICC) adding, that it will not succeed in bringing fair justice to Kwoyelo.
“If you depend on donors then close that division, you are not doing justice for the nation. You have four judges, the personnel are perfect, and the ICD offices in Kampala are beautiful but you can’t function without money,” Bishop Onweng added.
He also castigated ICD for its failure to conduct outreach programmes in the region to sensitise the locals in the region on the court’s mandate and progress of the trial of Kwoyelo unlike ICC that has carried many outreaches on the case of Dominic Ongwen.
“You are so limited in your outreach programme, how will people build confidence in the court,” Bishop Onweng said.
Bishop Onweng said they are skeptical whether ICD will be able to handle issues of reparation for the affected community in case Kwoyelo is convicted.
“You talk about reparation and you just keep talking about it, by now you should be doing research and be ready in case Kwoyelo is convicted, you should be able to compensate people. How long will this court case take if up to now you haven’t started working in the area?” he wondered.
The Acholi cultural institution prime minister, Mr Ambrose Olaa, said there is no sense in only trying Kwoyelo at the ICD yet it is known that government forces also committed grave atrocities against civilians in the region.
“In this war, we had so many incidences, there was the Buchoro and Namukora massacres, we have people we know, we are not saying government did it deliberately but we know the people who committed such crimes, why are they left scot free?” Mr Olaa said.
He said the ICD should look at the broader aspect of understanding what happened in Acholi and match them with the judicial system to come out with the best solution.
Mr Olaa said the Acholi traditional justice system has been long sought after dealing with crimes committed by people such as Kwoyelo and other LRA rebel leaders because it involves mediation and forgiveness.
“That’s why I tell you that if Joseph Kony is to come back home and says he is sorry, he will be accepted in the community and forgiven. But it’s you [ICD] from outside this area who will come in after him for prosecution,” he said.
“Everybody deserves a second chance, some of the LRA commanders came back home and were forgiven, and they are now carrying out farming in the community. We all face a dilemma in crafting a justice mechanism that suits our beliefs, that doesn’t mean you are wrong or we [Acholi leaders] are wrong, we have to merge this informal and formal justice approach so that the case is fairly concluded,” He added.
Mr Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, the Gulu District chairperson, said many questions still linger on in the minds of people in the region on why Kwoyelo was denied bail yet his other colleagues, whom they served with in captivity, got amnesty from government.
Mr Charles Kamuli, the state prosecutor in Kwoyelo’s case, however, told the leaders that the justice process is complicated because ICD operates in a way different from the ordinary court.
He assured them that they are committed to ensuring speedy trail. Mr Kimuli said it was not ICD that stripped Kwoyelo off the amnesty but rather the Constitutional Court.
In 2015, the Supreme Court stripped Kwoyelo of amnesty and ruled that he should stand trial, arguing that some of the crimes he committed are triable. The ruling came four years after the Constitutional Court had granted him amnesty in 2011.
Mr Kamuli said international crimes cannot be absolved, adding that level of atrocities varied.
A team from the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court of Uganda has for four days pitched camp in Gulu and Amuru districts, traversing the area while conducting community outreach programmes.
The team led by Justice Margaret Oguli Oumo, the head of ICD, conducted outreach programmes, meant to inform the population in the region about the ICD’s mandate and present updates on former Lord Resistance Army (LRA) rebel commander Thomas Kwoyelo’s case.
Kwoyelo is being tried at ICD, where he is charged with 93 counts related to murder, pillaging, robbery, hostage taking and kidnap of civilians between 1995 and 2005.
The crimes are alleged to have been committed in Pabbo Sub-county, Kilak County, present-day Amuru District.
The ICD team comprising the acting assistant registrar of the ICD, Ms Esther Rebecca Nasambu, visited Lamogi Sub-county, Pagak Village and Pabbo Sub-county [formerly an Internally Displaced People’s Camp] - all scenes, where Kwoyelo is alleged to have committed the crimes.

We are not only after Kwoyelo
Ms Nasambu said they are not after Kwoyelo, adding that the ICD was established to deal with war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, terrorism, human trafficking, among other international crimes.
Responding to concerns on issues of helping LRA victims, Ms Nasambu said they were already making strides with partners to start with helping victims of the war through offering free medical support.
Justice Oumo, however, said the delay in the trial of Kwoyelo is not deliberate, adding that it is because of the unique practices adopted from ICC.
She said the process involved periods of investigation, pre-trial, and confirmation of charges and trials.
Justice Oumo promised that the court would fairly expedite the trail of Kwoyelo to its logical conclusion.

About ICD

ICD is a special division of High Court of Uganda which was established in July 2008 as a way of fulfilling the Government’s commitment to the actualisation of Juba agreement on accountability and reconciliation.
Its establishment was in consideration of the civil wars and a series of other internal conflicts; Uganda has experienced in the recent past and meant to try the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity including commanders of the LRA and other rebel groups.
Kwoyelo is the first LRA commander to be prosecuted at ICD for crimes committed during the two-decade war in northern Uganda that left thousand dead and millions displaced.
His trial resumes on July 1 with further hearing of testimony from protected witness H29 at Gulu High Court Circuit.